Fort Orleans

Fort Orleans (sometimes referred to Fort D'Orleans) was a French fort in colonial North America, the first fort built by any European forces on the Missouri River. It was built near the mouth of the Grand River near present-day Brunswick. Intended to be the linchpin in the vast New France empire stretching from Montreal to New Mexico, the fort was occupied from 1723–1726. It was the first multi-year European settlement in what is today the U.S. state of Missouri.

The fort was established in 1723 on the Missouri River by Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont. It was to be the Missouri River headquarters of the newly claimed La Louisiana territory. Like the newly founded New Orleans, Louisiana, it was named for the Duke of Orléans.

De Bourgmont had commanded the French fort at Fort Detroit. In 1706 he and other soldiers deserted when criticized by Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac for his handling of a skirmish with attacking Ottawa (tribe) members. A French priest and soldier were killed by the Indians, and the French killed 30 Ottawa tribesmen.

While on the lam from French authorities, de Bourgmont lived with the Native Americans and explored the lower Missouri. He often traded in furs, although not authorized to do so. Catholic missionaries urged that he be arrested for indecency because of traveling with his Missouri wife and mixed-race child. His base was the Missouri tribal village near where Fort Orleans was to be established.

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